In a stunning turn of events, NASCAR has revoked Austin Dillon’s automatic playoff berth following his controversial victory at the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Despite crossing the finish line first, Dillon’s actions on the final lap have resulted in severe penalties. The driver will keep his win but was docked 25 standings points for taking out Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap.
The RCR driver was running second behind Logano and ahead of Hamlin on the final lap before slamming into Logano’s rear bumper entering Turn 3, spinning out the No. 22 Ford. As Hamlin sped past the chaos, Dillon swung his No. 3 Chevrolet left, clipping the No. 11 Toyota and sent it into the wall as he proceeded to take the checkered flag.
After the race, several drivers condemned the move with Hamlin calling for the win to be taken away which prompted an investigation. NASCAR later announced the findings on Wednesday after reviewing the finish of Sunday night’s race.
The sanctioning body ruled that Dillon would not be allowed to participate in the playoffs as a result of breaching Section 12.3.2.1.b of the NASCAR Rule Book, which addresses playoff eligibility and is as follows:
“Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”
NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer, explained the decision, stating, “As we looked through all of that data, we came to the conclusion that a line had been crossed. Our sport has been going for many, many years — forever — on good, hard racing. Contact has been acceptable. We felt like, in this case, that the line was crossed.”
In addition to revoking Dillon’s playoff berth, NASCAR also suspended his spotter Brandon Benesch for three Cup Series races. The suspension came after a review of the No. 3 team radio transmissions which revealed Benesh saying “wreck him” as Hamlin inched ahead of Dillon after the Logano collision.
Meanwhile, Joey Logano received a $50,000 fine for smoking his tires near Dillon’s pit box after the race.
The decision to strip Dillon of his playoff berth has sent shockwaves through the NASCAR community with many questioning whether NASCAR made the right call, while some argue the move was simply hard racing.
FOX Sports NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass believes that the sanctioning body had no other choice but penalize Dillon to set a precedent for future playoff races. He also argues the officials wanted to prevent other drivers contending for the championship from doing what Dillon did to win at Richmond.
He asked: “The biggest question NASCAR had to address when determining if and how to penalize Austin Dillon: How does it prevent a driver vying for the championship from doing what Dillon did to win at Richmond in order to win the title?”
Pockrass also suggests that if Dillon had made the move a little less egregious, he may have avoided the penalty. However, he notes that the driver put the decision in NASCAR’s hands by winning the race in such a controversial manner.
The decision has now changed the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs picture. Dillon, who began the weekend 32nd in the point standings, had moved up to 26th after his victory but after the 25-point deduction, he dropped back to 31st.
